My Disc Golf Journey (Old Entries)

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Prior to making this blog, I used to keep track of my "journey" of learning how to play disc golf. Here are several entries I made in chronological order (oldest to newest) on one page. Hopefully someone can find helpful bits and pieces of information from my learning.

June 18th, 2018 Part 1

So after doing a bit more reading and examining, I've discovered that my form definitely needs work (I already knew this). The largest discovery I made though was the fact that I'm performing my reach-back too early. I need to do the reach-back at a later point in my walking maneuver. I noticed today while practicing a bit in the gym that I am reaching back during my X-step and instead should be reaching back as I begin to move out of my X-step.

I gained this knowledge by visiting this link…

And this image in particular…

As well as this YouTube clip…

So to lay it out in steps, I believe it's something like this…

Run-up Right Handed Backhand (RHBH)

  1. Begin by facing the direction you plan to throw
  2. Step forward with your left foot
  3. Then step forward with your right foot while simultaneously turning your body to face left
    1. By the time your right foot hits the ground you should be facing left
  4. Now perform the x-step by crossing your left foot behind your right foot
    1. DO NOT BEGIN REACHING BACK YET
    2. DO NOT take a large step with your x-step
    3. If it helps, swing the disc outward as you cross your left foot behind your right foot
  5. Once you have completed your x-step begin reaching the disc back directly parallel to your chest as you take a wide step forward with your right foot.
  6. Once you plant your right foot, bring the elbow through parallel to your chest and let the disc "rip" out of your hands, pivoting on your right heel (NOT TOES) to follow through.
    1. Note, your right foot should stop at a 90 Degree or greater angle from your target

June 18th, 2018 Part 2

So I went to practice in a field for a bit and I noticed just how difficult and "weird" it feels for me to get my form proper. I think the largest problem for me is that I need to see what I'm doing wrong rather than "feel" it in order to correct myself. So I'm going to pick up a gorillapod like mount for my phone so I can record in slo-mo with my phone to get an idea of what's going on. I think I may have gotten it a few times though because I was able to stretch out a throw on my DX Cobra (Mid-Range) out to about 300'.

June 22nd, 2018

So after a bit of RHBH practicing while recording, here are 2 things I've noticed that I need to work on with a 3rd for consistency sake.
  1. Reach back
    1. When I reach-back I am not fully extending my arm so I'm not developing enough "pull" when I go to release the disc.
  2. X-Step Footing
    1. When I perform the X-Step, I've noticed that my foot is almost consistently facing away from the target when it should be parallel to it.
    2. If I take a smaller X-Step I believe that will better help me keep my foot aligned.

I think that if I work on those two items… I will be able to gain more distance on my throws and more accuracy as well.

The 3rd item involves the height in which I'm pulling the disc and my second arm. I need to have my arm up a little bit higher to be pulling across my chest rather than below my chest and keep my other arm away from my body and down at my side more consistently.

August 11th, 2018

While playing with friends, one of them noted that when I throw forehand, I kind of do an upward swinging motion rather than keeping it flat when I let go. I noticed I also have a bad habit of rolling my wrist at the end. I'm going to have to head out to the field and do a bit of practice throwing to see how it looks on camera but I know the top 3 things I need to work on are as follows…
  1. RHBH Reach-back height
    1. Needs to be up higher towards the top of my chest
  2. X-Step and footing
    1. Needs to be a much smaller x-step and footing needs to face the right direction
  3. Forehand motion
    1. Needs to be flatter and need to not roll my wrist on my release

August 18th, 2018

So yesterday, my fiancée and I tried some "windmill" drills with disc golfing and I'm quite surprised at how well it works. I was able to throw just about as far as I usually do with an x-step by doing the windmill. I like that with the windmill you don't have to have any run-up to achieve similar distance so it's great for shots where there isn't a lot of room around the tee pad available.

May 8th, 2019


Reachback information (What makes a good reachback?)
  • Low
  • Wide
  • Committed
  • Straight
  • Well timed

Low
  • Always start below your collarbone
  • Keep weight over your toes
Wide
  • From the peak of the reachback the disc should be able to be pulled straight through to your target (NO ROUNDING or CURVING around your body)
  • Fix, freeze in your reachback (film from behind as well)
Committed
  • Full power drives
  • Take eyes off the target and turn shoulders all the way away from the target
Straight and Timing / Timed
  • Everything happens at different speeds (everything sort of falls in place)
  • Reach back peaks when front foot touches the ground
  • With proper timing the reachback will remain straight
Finally
Slow is smooth and smooth is far

May 12th, 2019

So I went out and did some more RHBH training except this time I took some advice from Danny Lindahl. He recommend that you film yourself behind so that you can better see if you are fully committing to your reachback. After reviewing some of the footage, I believe my form is actually pretty good. The largest thing I noticed while practicing was that I needed to take a much longer "final step" to really get the weight shifting going. Here's the list of improvements.
  1. Reduce some rounding
  2. Remember to take a longer final step
  3. Reach out further from body
  4. More weight over toes
    1. Less upright with stance
When comparing my form to Ricky Wysocki's I notice that he has a lot more of his weight over his feet.
So I randomly came across this site thanks to Reddit today My Disc Bag. What I like about it is that it has a flight chart as well as a Stability chart. It helps you identify gaps in your bag if you have any. The other thing I like about it is that it kind of proves what I thought about stability was right. The formula for HSS and overall stability of a disc is showcased as the same as what I thought. So the discs I recently bought (Meteor, Mirage and TL) were exactly what I thought I needed in my bag.

July 25th, 2019

Well, after having a less than stellar partial round at Enger Disc Golf Course and realizing that I really cannot throw as far as I think I can consistently enough, I think I'm going to take the plunge and "start from the beginning" in a sense. I'm going to remove all drivers above 9 speed from my bag. I think this will really help me find errors in my form and not throw a disc that is "too much" for me at this time. My bag is going to feel a bit more empty but I think with the limited amount of time I have to practice and play this will help me get a better grip on controlling my discs.

November 29th, 2020

February 19th, 2021

Disc Golf Professional's Throws I've Taken the Most Tips From
  1. Corey Ellis
    1. 3 steps, lots of power, not a ton of run up
    2. Fantastic stand-still thrower
  2. Paul Oman
    1. Slow, methodical but still powerful

November 18th, 2021

Innova Disc Golf Professional's Bag Content Philosophies
  1. Barry Schultz
    1. Don't carry a ton of different molds
  2. Philo Brathwaite
    1. Don't carry a ton of molds and carry discs in threes for the 3 major stages of wear/stability… Understable, stable and Overstable
  3. Joel Freeman
    1. At least one disc in each "slot" of the 3 stabilities (OS, Straight to stable, US)

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